Verstappen sees no chance of a win in 2026 after Russell’s comments

Verstappen came close to his first win of the season at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Starting from eighth, he worked his way through the field and began chasing Russell in the closing stages. On soft tyres, he could match the Mercedes driver’s pace, but ultimately fell just short of making a pass. After the disastrous qualifying session on Friday, Verstappen feared Red Bull had thrown away its chance to win.

“The car was feeling really good all weekend. Okay, we then had the issue in qualifying with the engine,” Verstappen said. "We still of course have some limitations with the car that I’ve mentioned many times that are not really fixable for this year. So we know for next year that needs a lot of work. But the balance of the car was strong. George has said for Malaysia they are bringing an upgrade, so it's going to look a little more difficult for us."

When asked on which circuits he can be this competitive again, Verstappen also points to the development at their rival. “We don’t know. If Mercedes brings an upgrade and it works, they take another step forward. That’s not what you want. It will make it even harder to win,” he states. “But we’ll try every weekend. And if the opportunity arises, we’ll of course go for it.”

Even in Baku, where Verstappen finished right behind Russell, he believes the Mercedes driver would have been hard to beat. The engine problem in qualifying meant he had to start from P8, but according to him a better starting position wouldn’t automatically have led to a different winner. “Even if I had started second, I think with George’s pace it would have been very hard to pass. Maybe I could have followed him a bit better,” says Verstappen.

“We probably would have run the same race, pushing each other along. It would at least have made my first stint a bit easier, because then I wouldn’t have had to overtake all the cars I had to,” the Dutchman noted, referring to his difficult stint on the medium tyre. By his own account, he was mainly trying to survive during that phase. "Those last laps were very enjoyable because there was barely any degradation. We were just pushing to the end and the gap was always 1 second, 1.1."

The fact that he still closed in at the finish line, Verstappen attributed to Russell’s temporary loss of power after a yellow flag, which he pointed out immediately after the race. “If you look at the final stint, the gap was always one second. That probably would have been the gap at the finish as well.”